Busy Sunday morning....

Another busy Sunday morning....Grace was up at 7:30am and has been going strong since. This photo is from about 10am when I put some coloured soapy water in clear dishes and gave her some utensils and little dishes to play with.

It's 11:30am now and she is still playing with them. At present, she says she is making a birthday cake for me. She keeps singing me "Happy Birthday" over and over again. She must have heard me talking lately about turning 30 in January (an event I'm dreading).

RIP Hilary....

Update from an old post (September 18th):
Sadly, Hilary Bonnell was not found alive...RIP.

Belated Halloween Photos

Despite the magnificant Sleeping Beauty costume that we got at DisneyLand Paris, Grace wore her drab elephant costume out trick or treating on Halloween. The trunk got in the way a bit as you can tell from the photos (she kept lifting it up). Our neighbours are so great and most had a special bag done up just for Grace. Love my neighbours...I feel like they look out for Grace and I.

Buddies....

A picture of Grace and Brendan playing at O'Dell. They kept taking each other's hands to come play. The top picture is from another day at Queen's Square when a kind man gave the kids some tennis balls to play with while he practised on the courts.

Travel Plans....

December...New York City (with Grace)

January/February....Hawaii (alone)

Video from Disneyland Paris....July 2009

This is a video of Grace running into Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland Paris. She just took off with a big smile on her face. She is going to be Sleeping Beauty for Halloween as we bought her costume on this trip.

Painting....

One of Grace's favourite things to do is paint. Almost everyday we paint at our dining room table. The table is not what is used to be as I have given up on covering it up. What doesn't come off with a good scrub before we eat, stays put. So...if you come to our house for dinner...please know that our table is clean, but has a few memories from our painting times on it.

H1N1 vaccine

I have about 5 people ask me everyday how I feel about the H1N1 vaccine. Specifically, will I vaccinate my child? While I am flattered that people respect me enough to ask my opinion, I also feel a great sense of responsibility about making a recommendation to others. I often get asked for advice as a nurse, but this question seems to carry so much weight these days.

So....I am not making any recommendations to others but I can tell you the following:
I have devoured all the literature, talked with experts and people that I trust/admire about this. I got the vaccine myself yesterday. I plan on vaccinating Grace when the public clinics open at the end of the week.

Growing Up...

This picture of Grace was taken at a friend's baby shower. Grace seemed so grown up that night. She was well behaved, watched Angie open her gifts, munched on finger foods, and acted like a little lady.

Jack-o-Lantern

Grace and I had fun one night carving this pumpkin. We had gone to the Country Pumpkin the previous day with friends and picked up a few pumpkins. We chose this one to carve and Grace wanted to make him 'scary'.

Grammie and Grace

I love these pictures of Grace and my mother. Grace is painting my mom's face with face paints that she got for her birthday. Mom was very patient and Grace took such care and attention painting her face.

Grace's Two Birthday Cakes

These are the two birthday cakes that I made for Grace's third birthday. Grace was excited about both of them and helped out a bit with the "Barbie" cake.

"

Fun at the Frex

Brendan, Mya and Grace on the rides...Checking out the animals in the barn. This pic was with the baby piglets. Too cute!


Some pics from the FREX this year. Grace had a great time! She loved the rides, petting zoo, pony rides, visiting the barn and all the yummy food!

Birthday Number Three!

The birthday party in disguise went fairly well. Grace did quite well until the cake came out and it was present time. Then it was quite obvious that it was not just a playdate.

Birthday Plans....

Gracie has decided that she does not want a party for her birthday this year. To be more specific, she wants a party but does not want anyone to come to it. Strange little people, these almost-three year olds.

So...shhhh.....I am disguising her birthday party. We are having a play date at the Clay Cafe with a few friends. I can't let birthday number three go by without a celebration of some sort with her little friends.

Missing Teen in NB

I work with an aunt of this missing teen. Please keep an eye out for her. I pray for her often and hope she is found safe and sound.

Ballet Lessons

Grace and I went to visit the ballet teacher tonight and ended up registering her for classes for the year. Grace was so delighted and started dancing on the spot! She even went over to the ballet bar in the classroom and started to dance like a real ballerina. Grace's teacher, Michelle, is lovely and said that the classes are all about the girls having fun and having some 'princess time'. I will be sure to post some photos soon.

Finally done....

A weight has been lifted off my shoulders!! I just submitted the last requirement for a course that I have dragged out forever. I had a kind prof who gave me extra time to do this. She understood that sometimes during times of stress, you mind does not give you the head space to write papers and think about things other than survival.

I took this course in the midst of my separation from Gordie and every time I sat down to write papers for the course, it felt like I was reliving that anguish all over again. The terrible sadness and anguish would wash over me and I would become paralysed. I would write a couple of words and then stop. I made excuses after excuses not to work on the papers I needed to hand in. I could not understand why the course was so linked to these feelings.

Anyways...I finally got it done!!! I wanted to drop the course so many times and start over with another one. I wanted to forget about it all. However, I knew that I would always regret not finishing it. I wanted to follow through on it. This course was not going to get the better of me.

Soo...it is midnight and I want to party to celebrate that I am done...but alas, I have a sleeping toddler that wakes too easily...so I am sending this celebration off into cyber space on my blog....

Sleep tight...I hope I have good dreams...
love,
Cheyanne

Washing the Windows

Grace has taken to washing the windows lately...I give her a squirt bottle filled with water and some rags.

Square Lake, Alma

A lovely resort that I stayed at recently for a research meeting. Here are a couple of pictures of the great view that we had during our meetings...if only I could always work from such surroundings.